Buckskin (1968)

Buckskin is yet another western where A.C. Lyles provides employment for famous Hollywood players past their prime. Barry Sullivan is the star here, a US Marshal come to a small Montana town with specific intent of taking down town boss Wendell Corey. For reasons I can't explain he brings his young son to the town and quite frankly had I been him I'd not have brought a child into harm's way. And since the child's mother who is deceased was an Indian all the more reason.I wasn't completely clear why Corey wants the homesteaders out of the area, he's dammed up the stream that they get water for their crops. We know a railroad is coming through the following year, but that's all.What Corey has done is pit the miners against the homesteaders and the homesteaders have their families. Not much of a fair fight, in the end though Sullivan has an ace.Some grievous plot holes is made up for a nice bit of action specifically when Sullivan blows up the dam and also in the final shootout. Joan Caulfield is the former schoolteacher turned saloon girl who Sullivan redeems. Such other A.C. Lyles regulars as Lon Chaney, Jr., John Russell, and Richard Arlen are in the cast. Bill Williams and Barbara Hale, husband and wife in real life, play a husband and wife here and I'm not sure if this isn't the only time that happened. I know Williams did a couple of Perry Mason guest shots while Hale was playing Della Street.I like the A.C. Lyles westerns even some of the bad ones and this is not a completely bad one.

Buckskin (1968) ** (out of 4) A strong cast keeps this by-the-numbers Western from falling completely off the track. Marshall Chaddock (Barry Sullivan) arrives in a small Montana town that has the land owners moving because of a crooked gambler named Marlowe (Wendell Corey). The Marshall makes the people stay on their land while he tries to defeat the greedy man at his own game. BUCKSKIN is an old fashioned Western that featured a story that would tire people in the 1930s let alone in 1968. This is a hard film to enjoy because of how boring it all it but at the same time there's no question that it features a strong cast of veteran actors. The biggest problem with the film is the fact that the story itself is just something we've seen hundreds of times in countless "B" Westerns and not a single new thing is done with it here. Even worse is that most "B" films got this story told in less than a hour but the story here is padded down with so much junk that the 97-minute running time seems twice that. There are so many simple scenes that get dragged out to the point where you'll be wanting to cry as well as ask the screenwriter what the point was. Sullivan is good in the lead as he delivers a strong performance and Corey is a downright delight as the snake who will stop at nothing to win. Joan Caulfield plays a former school teacher turned prostitute trying to win back some dignity. John Russell plays another snake with perfection and we also have Barbara Hale, Leo Gordon and Bill Williams turning in fine support. Lon Chaney, looking extremely bad from his personal issues and declining health, still manages to deliver a great performance as the disgraced Sheriff. Chaney appears to be having a blast getting to play the bad guy. BUCKSKIN is a film that most people will want to skip but if you're a fan of these names then you might want to check it out once.

Barry Sullivan of "Forty Guns" plays a buckskin clad lawman with a half-breed Indian son in director Michael Moore's hackneyed frontier western "Buckskin" who must clean up the town of Gloryhole, Montana. Meanwhile, Wendell Corey is the city slicker who owns this dusty little town and has built a dam to dry up the sodbusters and drive them away. The villain's plans appear to be working out nicely until Marshal Chaddock (Barry Sullivan) rides into the valley and on a crusade to bring law and order. The villain tries to bribe our stalwart hero, but Chaddock turns the money down cold. He has come to make a new start for himself after his Native American wife passed away from small pox. Furthermore, Chaddock is set on giving his own buckskin clad son a makeover into a white kid. Along the way, Rep Marlowe (Wendell Corey), tries to buck him. Paramount Pictures producer A.C. Lyles made this potboiler with six-guns in his usual style. He has resurrected several saddle sore stars for this 1968 production who made westerns in the 1950s. Joining Sullivan and Corey is veteran western character actor John Russell of the TV series "Lawman"; Russell went on to star opposite Clint Eastwood in "Pale Rider." He plays a vengeful, ex-cavalry officer named Patch for the patch he wears over his scarred face. He wants to kill Chaddock. Joan Caulfield is a dance hall girl who was once the town's school teacher. Lon Chaney, Jr., is the corrupt town sheriff that Marlowe keeps in his pocket."Killers Three" scenarist Michael Fisher's screenplay qualifies as predictable pabulum from star to finish with minor surprises. In other words, a couple of people that you don't think will bite the dust end up dead. The dialogue brims with clichés and sometimes these people wax loquacious. Half-way through the action, the grudge-bearing gunslinger named Patch changes sides before the big showdown. Marlowe has aligned the miners with him against Chaddock and the sodbusters and storekeepers. If you enjoy old-fashioned westerns (this one was lensed on the Virginia City set of TV's "Bonanza," then you will find this comforting and reassuring. Sullivan gives his usual amiable performance and Corey is dastardly as the well-heeled antagonist.

BUCKSKIN (1968) is one of thirteen low-budget westerns churned out at Paramount Pictures in the 1960s by producer A.C. Lyles. The distinguishing feature of these westerns was the peppering of the casts with former Hollywood stars getting one last shot at cinematic glory. Here the cast is led by western stalwart Barry Sullivan and includes such former Paramount contract players as Joan Caulfield, Wendell Corey, and Richard Arlen, backed by such other veteran performers as John Russell, Lon Chaney Jr., Barbara Hale, Bill Williams, Leo Gordon, George Chandler and Barton MacLane.The hackneyed plot features Sullivan as a marshal seeking to bring law and order to Glory Hole(!), Montana, by stopping the land-grabbing tactics of gambler Rep Marlowe (Corey), who's aided by an eye-patch-wearing hired gun (Russell) and a portly, corrupt sheriff (Chaney). The townsmen, including a kindly doctor (MacLane), are loath to help Sullivan because he seems to be outnumbered, but gradually Sullivan enlists such allies as a homesteader couple (played by husband-and-wife acting team Williams and Hale); the old storekeeper (Chandler) and his Chinese assistant (Aki Aleong); a drunk who lost all his savings to the gamblers (Gordon); and a schoolteacher-turned-saloon girl (Caulfield). Each of the cast gets their chance to emote, making this film much talkier than it needed to be, but also ensuring the participation of name performers who would have balked at mere cameo appearances. After the sturdy Sullivan (always a dependable western star), Russell comes off best as the conflicted hired gun with a complicated past.There are a couple of interesting racial twists provided by Sung Lee, the Chinese worker who is a victim of prejudice and comes to respect Sullivan for standing up for him, and Sullivan's young half-Indian son (Gerald Michenaud), whose presence at the side of Sullivan causes a bit of controversy.It's not the best of Lyles' westerns, nor is it the worst. It moves well and the cast always keeps it interesting, even during its slow and talky moments. There are a few shootouts, including one sprawling gun battle with Corey's henchmen at a dam that Sullivan is trying to open to get the homesteaders their necessary water. Western fans will find a few pleasures here and will no doubt wonder why more Lyles westerns are not available on home video.